


pan is in a bad mood, curly is annoyed, and slightly is having an affair (apparently)

by teddylupln



Category: Peter Pan & Related Fandoms
Genre: I REWROTE THIS, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-25 19:10:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12539132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teddylupln/pseuds/teddylupln
Summary: it's been snowing on neverland, which just makes everything harder for the lost boys. curly's just trying to get things done, but most of the others are growing lazier by the day. and slightly's been disappearing every day.





	pan is in a bad mood, curly is annoyed, and slightly is having an affair (apparently)

**Author's Note:**

> I posted this a while ago but I re-wrote it bc I didn't like how I wrote it the first time!! I'm planning on re-writing most of my neverland fics bc Imo my writing has improved over the last year or so a lot so!! yeah
> 
> thanks if u read this & if u like it, pls leave a comment :^)

Everyone on the island could tell that Peter Pan was in an awful mood. He had been for weeks now, in fact. But, no one on the island knew why except for Pan himself (and maybe Felix, but he refused to answer the lost boys’ questions anyways). So, for weeks, Neverland had been covered in snow. Curly could only pray that Pan got over his bad humor soon. (He wasn’t much of the praying type, but desperate times called for desperate measures.)

 

The boys worked hard enough on a  _ regular _ basis, let alone when they had to deal with a constant chill and snow up to their knees. The best that they could do was shovel the drifts out of their camp, stock up as much food as possible, and wait out the weather until Pan decided to get over whatever had him in such a fit. None of the boys (besides maybe Felix, always the exception when it came to Pan) had seen their leader since the first flurry of snowflakes. Not that Curly wanted to based on what he knew about Pan and his moods. (The last time it had stormed on Neverland, a boy had ended up dead.)

 

To make matters worse, the boys seemed to grow lazier every day. Curly tried his best to keep morale up, but he had always been more of a caretaker than a full-on leader. 

 

But the worst of all, by far, was Slightly. Laziness for  _ most _ boys meant that they didn’t help with the fire or the snow or the food or any of the other multitude of things that had to be done. But Slightly’s laziness meant _completely_ _disappearing_ from sunrise to sunset. He always came back to camp at night, long after most boys had fallen asleep, and Curly found it harder and harder to pretend he was sleeping and refrain from confronting the other boy.

 

Curly wasn’t the only one who had noticed Slightly’s absence, apparently, because it was the talk of the bonfire one night. Whenever anything out of the ordinary happened, the boys seemed to spring on gossip and bets. Whoever had decided that only girls liked to gossip had never been to Neverland. 

 

The conversation started off innocently enough; Nibs simply wondered aloud where Slightly was. But by the time the younger boys had gone to sleep, the group was growing rowdier by the minute. Curly was certain that half of the island was being kept up by them.

 

“I swear he’s having an affair with a mermaid!” 

 

“No! That makes no sense! The lagoon’s frozen over!”

 

“Well, then maybe with… Tinkerbell!”

 

“Tinkerbell would never stoop so low, dumbass!”

 

“You guys are both dumbasses; there’s no fucking way Slightly’s straight.”

 

“Isn’t there some gay guy Tiger Lily’s friends with?”

 

“You homophobe! Not all gay people are hooking up with each other.”

 

“What the hell, man? I’m not even straight!”

 

“Whatever! You’re still an ass.”

 

“I am  _ not _ !”

 

“I’m telling you guys: he has to be having an affair!”

 

Curly had zoned out for most of the conversation, but he couldn’t help but roll his eyes at that. Unluckily for him, one of the others took notice.

 

“What? Too cool for us, Curly?”

 

“No,” Curly said flatly. “I just don’t care about Slightly’s affairs.’”

 

“Well then what do _you_ think he’s up to, wise guy?”

 

“Isn’t it obvious?” Curly glanced around the circle, seeing only blank stares. He shook his head. “He’s not  _ up to _ anything. He’s. Just. Lazy.”

 

The others pondered this for a moment. It seemed to lack the drama and intrigue that they wanted, because they looked at one another with frowns.

 

Then, one of the twins smiled. “Why do you care, Curly?” He rose an eyebrow. “Do you…  _ like him _ ?”

 

The circle erupted with laughter and whoops of agreement. “Yeah, _Curly_!” “Curly’s got a crush!” “Oooohh!”

 

“I do not!” Curly glared, trying to yell over the others. But it was no use; the boys had gotten the storyline they wanted, and they weren’t ready to let it go yet.

 

Curly rolled his eyes once again, standing quickly and walking away, towards the makeshift structures the boys slept beneath. The others yelled after him, still jeering and laughing. 

 

He wondered if he could get far enough to get some peace and quiet. But, at the same time, he knew that he could barely take ten steps away from camp in the snow, let alone walk across the island. So he ventured as far away from the fire as he could, planning to sit with his thoughts until he grew tired enough for sleep. 

 

Eventually, the boys at the fire seemed to move on to a new subject, judging by their lack of yelling towards Curly. Curly sighed to himself, taking a small chunk of snow in his bare hands, forming it into a ball. He had never seen snow before Neverland. Somehow, none of the boys had been frostbitten so far. He wondered absently how long it would take for him to live down this rumor. He knew Slightly would get a big kick out of it if he heard.

 

As Curly sat there worrying, he noticed two objects tucked in the snow a few feet away, halfway covered by the deeper snow. He blinked, wondering if he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. But when he tugged them out of the snow, he saw that he wasn’t imagining anything. They were two snowshoes. Curly didn’t know how long they had been there, if they were another boy’s or if he had somehow willed them into existence. But he wasn’t about to pass up an opportunity to take a break from the others.

 

When the weather was normal, Curly liked to walk around the island. It was the only time to really be alone, and he knew other boys did it too. But since the snow had come, no one had been able to be alone much at all. 

 

Curly headed towards the mermaid’s lagoon. When snow wasn’t so inhibiting, it could actually be quite beautiful. Pushing thoughts of the others and Slightly out of his mind, he focused on taking breaths of the chilled night air.

 

Focusing on the scene around him, the last thing that Curly expected to catch a glimpse of was (speak of the devil) Slightly. Regardless of the low lighting, Curly could recognize Slightly’s signature blond hair (which was just  _ slightly _ too long in Curly's opinion) from a short distance away. The other boy sat in the snow, holding something long, which Curly couldn’t quite make out. 

 

Slightly hadn’t seemed to notice Curly, and Curly almost stepped away and left quietly. But despite what he had said at the campfire, he  _ did _ want to know what Slightly was really doing in his time away. Curly did think that laziness was a part of the issue, but Slightly had never been known to sneak off before, and he was too restless to be out here just doing nothing. So Curly stepped towards Slightly instead of away.

 

“Slightly?” He called. 

 

Slightly whirled around, eyes wide as if he  _ had _ been caught having an affair instead of… carving a piece of wood? As Slightly came into view, Curly could see that he was holding a flat, skinny board, with another lying next to him in the snow.

 

When Slightly realized it was only Curly, he relaxed and scowled. “What are you doing here?”

 

“I was actually wondering the same thing about you.” Curly straightened, crossing his arms, really feeling the cold of the night for the first time.

 

“ _Ohh_ ,” Slightly said sarcastically, holding up his arms in defense. “I see. So you’ve come to tell me off. Sorry, mom; I didn’t know I needed your permission to leave camp.”

 

Slightly scoffed, and when Curly didn’t respond for a moment, he turned back to his work, using a knife to carefully carve the wood. Curly stood there silently with clenched fists. But he took a breath instead of lashing out.

 

“No.” He feigned nonchalance. “You can do whatever you want. I’m just curious…”

 

Before Curly had even finished, Slightly was chuckling to himself.

 

“Liar. I know you too well, Curls.” Slightly shook his head. “You’re right about one thing, though.”

 

Curly rose an eyebrow.

 

“I can do whatever I want.” Slightly looked up at Curly. “There are no rules in Neverland.”

 

The corner of Curly’s mouth turned upwards in a small smile, and he nodded. Slightly stood then, placing his hands on his hips. 

 

“ _ And,  _ there are no kings in Neverland!” He moved a hand to his chest, exaggerating the words mockingly. “Just  _ me _ !”

 

Ever since Slightly had heard Pan say that line, he had been making fun it. And every time he did, Curly feared for Slightly's life.

 

“Careful,” Curly said. “Pan might not be up for your jokes tonight.”

 

“Oh, please. I could take him,” Slightly joked and sat back down in the compacted snow.

 

"Yeah, right.” Curly joined the other boy in the snow. “So what makes you so much better than everyone else that you don’t have to help out?”

 

Slightly’s mood immediately dampened. “Nothing… You’ll think it’s dumb.”

 

“I doubt it.” Curly tucked his hands into the sleeves of his shirt. “If you’ve been spending this much time on it, it can’t be  _ completely  _ dumb, right?”

 

“I think you’ve underestimated how dumb I am.”

 

“Come on. Just tell me. I’m already here, so you might as well,” Curly pleaded.

 

“This is  _ my _ thing, Curly. It’s none of your business.”

 

Curly only stared back at him, unwavering.

 

Slightly groaned. “If you really must know… I’m making skis.”

 

Curly rose an eyebrow. “Skis,” he repeated.

 

“I told you it’s dumb,” Slightly said, exasperated. “Whatever, okay? I’ll… come be at camp more if you want. I’m not gonna stop, though.”

 

Curly reached for the ski in the snow, examining it.“They’re almost done,” he pointed out.

 

“Yeah,” Slightly said, awkwardly. He cracked his knuckles (nervous habit).

 

“These are… really impressive.”

 

“Thanks.” Slightly’s eyebrows rose in surprise, then drew together in confusion. 

 

“How’d you know how to do this?” Curly put the ski carefully back down, looking up at Slightly again.

 

“From… before.”

 

There was an unspoken understanding among the boys about talking about before. They shouldn't do it. So Curly simply nodded.

 

“Think you could make more?” Curly asked.

 

“I mean, yeah, I guess I could.” Slightly shrugged, feigning indifference.

 

“You could teach us all how to ski!” Curly seemed so excited at the prospect that Slightly couldn’t even feel embarrassed that he had thought Curly wanted to ski with him alone.

 

* * *

Skiing turned out to be a lot harder than Curly had anticipated.

 

After they had finished a second pair of skis, Slightly had insisted they try them out, and Curly had tentatively agreed. Though he might not have if he would've known how difficult it would be.

 

“I don’t get how you can enjoy this,” Curly grumbled, sinking back on his skis and sitting on them.

 

Slightly let out a short laugh and kneeled next to Curly.

 

“Not everyone likes it. It’s kind of an…” He stopped, trying to think of the word.

 

“An acquired taste?”

 

“Yes! It’s an acquired taste.” Slightly’s smile lit up his face. Usually when Slightly was smiling, there was a context of mockery surrounding it, but today, his grin was completely pure and childish. Curly couldn’t remember the last time Slightly had looked that happy.

 

“Do you ever miss it?” Curly almost whispered.

 

Slightly tilted his head. “Miss what? Skiing?”

 

Curly nodded. “And just… _before._ ”

 

“No.” Slightly shook his head immediately. “Sometimes I think I do, but then I remember that it must not’ve been worth it, right?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Well, I decided to leave. I remember I couldn’t _stand_ being there. So, the positives never outweighed the negatives... Sometimes I miss some things, like skiing, but it wouldn't be worth it .” Slightly paused. “Does that make sense?”

 

Curly nodded in agreement. 

 

“I know if I were still there, I’d still feel trapped, and I’d still hate it as much as I always did.” Slightly shrugged. “And besides, right now I’m getting to ski anyways. _And_ with you, who I never would've met otherwise."

 

“You’re right.”

 

“Of course I am!” Slightly said, smugly.

 

Curly sighed dramatically. “And for a moment there I thought you might just be bearable…”


End file.
